


Pearl Shell River

by devilinthedetails



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce, PIERCE Tamora - Works
Genre: Beauty - Freeform, Gen, Nature, Yanjing, river - Freeform, wonder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29046561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Jia Jiu sees one of Yanjing's natural wonders for the first time.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Pearl Shell River

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Malorie's Peak Prompt "Wonder" at Goldenlake.

Pearl Shell River

The first time that Jia Jiu saw the great Zhenzhujiang river that wound its way like a snake through her humid home province in southeastern Yanjing, she drew her breath in so sharply that she almost sneezed. The river was so wide that she had to squint to glimpse the opposite bank through the enshrouding mist.

Even in the thick, enveloping fog, the river had a sparkling luster, catching and reflecting the sunlight that managed to filter through the gray canopy of clouds. The river’s shine resembled what she imagined pearls to look like. Pearls that she had only heard described in stories of the strings rich men’s daughters wore on their wedding days. Pearls her poor father could never have afforded to buy her on a wedding day (not that she wanted to wed or would have time to marry when she had magic to study to advance herself and her family in the world). Pearls that were the tears of oysters, her mother said--proof that pain gave birth to beauty.

She had known that the Zhenzhujiang was fed by three large tributaries and had many islands dotting its delta where it flowed into the Storm Dragons Ocean, but she hadn’t imagined it could be this vast. It seemed almost to have an ocean’s worth of water itself.

“It must be the longest river in the world!” she exclaimed to Tutor Zhang, her teacher who had decided that she should journey to this great river and understand its terrain, its shaping power over the geography not just of Jia Jiu’s province but of all of southern Yanjing.

“It’s not.” Tutor Zhang shook his head, and Jia Jiu might have been stung by his obvious amusement at her enthusiastic, peasant-girl ignorance if she wasn’t so in awe of the river. “It’s not even the longest in Yanjing. There are two longer ones in central and northern Yanjing. The Zhenzujiang, impressive as it is, is only the third longest in the country.”

“It must be the most beautiful then,” Jia Jiu insisted, unfazed by her tutor’s attempt to impose facts on her excitement.

That’s why they called it the Zhenzujiang after the pearlescent shells that lined the riverbottom, after all.

To her satisfaction, her tutor didn’t argue with this statement. He just stood silently beside her, staring out at the river traveling to join the thunderous waves of the Storm Dragons Ocean.


End file.
